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Religious issues in workplaces have been popping up in the news in recent months, prompting questions about how much faith employees can practice at work. Workplace consultant Brandon Smith said religious discrimination claims are rising in the United States—doubling over the last 15 years.

Some companies are opening their doors to their young workers' parents, often in the form of open houses or "bring your parents to work" days. But GPB's workplace expert says that also opens the door to problems.

A new year has dawned and many people are thinking about goals for 2014. But don’t go overboard, warns our resident workplace and career expert. Brandon Smith says just one goal (maybe two) is enough. He suggests setting a goal for work, work-life balance or relationships in 2014.

Work more or less grinds to a halt in most organizations in these final weeks of the year—which means efforts to fill open positions also stop. That doesn’t mean job-seekers are stuck in neutral for the next few weeks, according to career coach and workplace consultant Brandon Smith. He said the single most-important task for those people is setting up coffee meetings with people at the companies where they want to work.

With about a week and half until Christmas, work has pretty much ground to a halt in companies across Georgia. But workplace guru Brandon Smith says that does not mean productivity has to stop, too. In either case, Smith has suggestions for making the most of the last few weeks of the year.

Some companies are starting to micromanage who sits where in the office—to the level of putting specific workers next to each other and separating people who work in the same department. The idea is to foster creativity and encourage innovative thinking. Workplace expert Brandon Smith says it can have that effect, as long as organizations are careful and deliberate about how they implement such a strategy.

Susan’s boss gathered the team and took them to a long lunch. Then they stopped a nearby fashion accessories store to do a little shopping. All of this happened during the workday. Susan feels guilty about shopping during work and is uncomfortable with the time away from the office. Workplace expert Brandon Smith says the problem isn’t so much the outing as the boss’s failure to explain its purpose.

Some new research tells us that using a lot of direct eye contact isn’t always a good idea. The study found speakers with a strong opinion about a controversial topic have less chance of persuading someone who disagrees if they make direct eye contact. Brandon Smith explains the implications at work and the key behavior that can alleviate the impact of all that eye contact.

Everyone has people they just don’t like. Maybe personalities clash or there’s some long history of disagreements. What do you do when that person is in the cubicle across the hall or the office next door? How do you still work with them, despite the interpersonal issues? Workplace consultant Brandon Smith says the key is to look for the value and skills they bring to the work at hand.

How many times have you walked in the door and said to your partner, “You’re not going to believe what happened at work today...”? A listener named Susan wonders if employees are breaking the confidentiality your employer expects when they do that, and she wrote to ask workplace expert Brandon Smith about it.